Comments on: First Impressions: Why Would Someone Want to be VP of Social Media at Ketchum?

By: Jessica Gottlieb

Jessica Gottlieb — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:12:58 +0000

In thinking this through a little more, I’m thinking Ketchum is wise to know they need a social media veep.

Having worked with Ketchum a number of times I’m thinking of two that they could promote from within.

By: Donny P.B.

Donny P.B. — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 12:54:38 +0000

Great post Mark – interesting article. You’re right, enough of all these Ketchum excuses, and how dare they ignored your previous post. But I’d be curious to know if you’ve made any social media mistakes in your life ever and drawn critiques from fellow netizens. How did you deal with that? Perhaps these folks at Ketchum could learn a thing or two from you.

By: rick clancy

rick clancy — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 01:17:55 +0000

Clearly, Ketchum needs help in this area as do many companies, institutions and PR firms. Social media is an obvious opportunity for sensitive PR pros who are by nature good listeners and good communicators. Hopefully, Ketchum will still be able to attract someone who sees their need as a real opportunity.

By: Meghan

Meghan — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:55:17 +0000

Pamela doesn’t even link to http://www.ketchum.com/ on her Twitter bio.

Enough said.

By: Sandra Lee Schubert

Sandra Lee Schubert — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:57:00 +0000

I have worked with small businesses on creating their social media profiles. I always suggest they follow certain people to get an idea of how they handle platforms like Twitter. The idea is to observe what is the conversation going on and how do individual and companies handle this conversation.

Having said that the worst case scenario is working for someone who has a vague idea of what they are asking their employee to do.

As an example- at my last company they wanted a website and wanted to show up on Google’s top searches. They would ask me to call up our hosting company when the site was not top listed with no concept of keywords or SEO. They had a vague idea of needing an online presence without the knowledge of what that meant.

Another example- my friend was told she needed 1,000 followers in a month because her company wanted a Twitter presence without the understanding of the relationship building involved. To that end I see her chatting up the big name celebrity Twitter people but ignoring other people. She barely engages in a conversation with me, her friend, and does not reply when I comment on an article she posts. I understand she is under the gun to develop a profile her company wants but I think it highlights the misuse of Twitter by cultivating a celebrity conversation and ignoring the very audience (readers of your site) you want to attract. I want to engage with her and not watch a conversation with celebrities.

I think to Mark’s point you want to work for someone who has a good understanding of the job. Otherwise you are subject to their idea of what the jos is about. If Ms. Von Lehnden had tweeted a question or request about how she could improve her tweets that would show an openness to engaging someone who may know better then she about the whole process.

Catherine Ventura makes a case for Ms. Von Lehnden learning curve and I for one am willing to allow that for anyone. Despite the popularity of Social Media it is still a new field for many people and companies. We can all falter on our first steps.